PLO Accuses Netanyahu of 'Terrorism'

PLO claims that Netanyahu is using the kidnapping of "three settlers" as an excuse to cover up his own crimes.

By Dalit Halevi and Elad Benari

First Publish: 6/16/2014, 2:13 AM

Mahmoud Abbas

Reuters

The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) convened for a meeting on Sunday, following which it accused Israel of terrorism and rejected Israel’s placing the blame on the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the kidnapping of the three yeshiva students in Gush Etzion.

The committee, headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, condemned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for what it termed his "racist attack" on the PA and its leader using the kidnapping of “three settlers” as an excuse.

The statement said that Netanyahu is returning to a pattern of action characteristic of the “occupation”, including “the enforcement of collective punishment, a blockade, invasion of cities, widespread arrests, threats to withhold the Palestinian Authority’s funds and more.”

The executive committee further declared that it rejects the "false" accusations made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, which are intended, it claimed, to cover up his incompetence.

The statement further claimed that Netanyahu’s behavior is due to his desire to use of the kidnapping of the students for political purposes to cover up "the crimes of the expansion of the settlements," thwarting the peace process, and his opposition to the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

"This is Netanyahu’s method of operation, which seeks to turn away attention from the real cause of the cycle of violence and his support in practice for the terrorist actions perpetrated by the Judaization gangs, such as the price tag gangs, and these activities include murder, taking over of lands, ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, damaging holy sites, especially the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the statement charged.

The PLO leadership stated that the PA does not ignore its duties and responsibilities, but refuses to have the “occupation” cast the responsibility on its shoulders for “crimes” being carried out using the "terrorism of the occupation state."

The statement comes after the Fatah movement, which is headed by Abbas, actually celebrated the kidnapping of the three students.

Fatah's official Facebook page posted a cartoon comparing the three kidnapped Israeli students to rats. As well, the official Palestinian Authority daily printed a cartoon celebrating the kidnapping of three Israeli youths.